Jennifer from Angeleno Heights was troubled by the behavior of two nannies taking care of children at the playground next to the Echo Park Recreation Center on Bellevue Avenue near Glendale Boulevard. She didn’t report the incident – which she witnessed about 2-1/2 weeks ago – to authorities but thought the parents might want to know what’s going on:

It was about 2 1/2 weeks ago. 20 year old latina nanny with long hair in a pony tail with a 6-8 month old blonde boy infant. Another Nanny, perhaps the mother of the younger nanny is about 45 years old with shoulder length hair and was taking care of a fair skinned two year old toddler. The two children didn’t appear to be brother and sister, but the Nannies were friends or relatives. The younger nanny with the infant, put the baby in a park swing and was pushing the baby hard, like you might push a five yr old. The baby was screaming and crying, then it fell out of the swing (of course!) and landed in the filthy sand on its belly and face. It was coughing and gasping for air. She scooped him up and the older Nanny was yelling at her (that’s why they seemed related).

Before and during the swing incident, the older nanny was “watching” the toddler girl. The Nanny was on the phone the entire time talking and the toddler was wandering off, away from the older nanny. The toddler was heading for the curb and the street each time. The nanny paid no attention. Multiple times, other women in the park (total strangers) called out to this nanny to run get the baby. She was so into her conversation that she didn’t even care that the little kid was wandering away. She would lumber over to get the toddler and instead of taking the baby’s hand to lead her back to the play area, she grabbed the baby by the shirt back and picked the toddler up off the ground to carry it —like a dog carries its puppies in its mouth!! Even when she walked the toddler, she didn’t hold her hand, she held a grip on her shirt instead. Every gesture was harsh and un-caring toward these children.

Not the kind of thing you call the police for, but if I were the parent of either of these children I would be horrified, to say the least!

15 comments

While the above descriptions are vague, I certainly hope for the sake of these babies someone is able to identify these women or the children. The parents of these kids would be horrified at this treatment which is nothing short of neglect. Terrible.

how do you know they where nannies, sounds more like it was there kids or some kid related to the family. I say this cause one of my grandkids has blonde hair and blue/green eyes, I’m her grams and people still ask if I’m the nanny or baby sittingthe kid. ERRRRRRRRR.

OMG. It makes me wonder again, Aren’t nannies required to be licensed in the state of California? We have a nanny taking care of our child as well, but truth be told we’ve never asked for a license (I don’t think we could afford to pay someone who had an actual license or who was here legally for that matter; we may have to rethink that). Nevertheless, the cops should have been called, because a crime was clearly committed. Those poor parents. They should know!

I agree with most of the above comments. This sounds like something from the “What would you do?” TV show, and definitely should have been reported. Sadly, the police probably could not do anything about it, as they’re overworked and this is not a ‘serious’ crime. Better to say something to the nannies, perhaps follow them home (if you have the time) and report to the parents. A photo would be helpful, too.

i would have called the police and explained the situation and let them decide. as a parent, i would have surely fired the nanny if i had witnessed this behavior. the park in silverlake is filled with nannies that are all on their cellphones while kids play unattended, sometimes out of view. almost all of them dont even play with the children. it is a HUGE reason why i choose to be an at home mom. parents need to take time to “spy” on their nanny to see how well they really interact and watch their children. you’d be surprised…

Well, there’s a business opportunity. With so many people hiring nannies, it might be profitable to start a spy on nannies operation. Beats walking dogs. For $100.00 “we’ll videotape your nanny and child interacting,” make sure they’re not taken across the border and back or anything. Seriously, it could be kind of fun as well.

@MARTIN: Seriously? “make sure they’re not taken across the border and back or anything”

What kind of ignorant statement is that when most of the kids that are kidnapped and brought across the border is for Americans that want to adopt! You sound like a racist with that comment!

Just because the so-called nannies/parents were Latino on their cell phones…don’t tell me that other races don’t do the same. I for one don’t believe in nannies…kids should be raised by their own families! Which brings me to a joke that George Lopez said…”America invented Convelesent homes because they don’t take care of their old. In the Latino culture…not only do we raise our own kids, we also take care of our parents..even if it means putting them in a converted garage!”

Even if it was a joke…it was done in bad taste and I found it offending. It doesn’t matter if they were Latin, White, Asian or any other race. The nannies were irresponsible and the joke is making it seem that it’s the “Latin thing to do” (unless he was talking about the Canadian border). I’m sure he got the idea from the movie “Crash” and like we all know…Hollywood is for entertainment only and not to be taken seriously. But I’d like to hear what he has to say about it so he can explain himself. I’m actually a very understanding person!

Yet another message board that loses focus and turns into a racial debate…The kids are at risk “Geez”…Who cares how we describe the ones putting them in harms way!!?? Is that what you’re worried about – Profiling??? If I ever witnessed something like that, I would’ve listed their height, weight and color of their socks that day.

Is it just me, or should these parents be taking care of their own kids?Instead they want the children, but prefer if someone else takes care of all the childhood rearing responsibilities. I don’t get why people are doing this today? At least one parent, mother or father, should be around , its their friggin kid! Blindly trusting your kid to person, regardless of race, is always risky. And hiring undocumented workers with little experience, just because its cheaper , well…you get what you pay for.

Please keep your comments civil and on topic and refrain from personal attacks. The moderator reserves the right to edit or delete any comments. The Eastsider's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy apply to comments submitted by readers. Required fields are marked *